One Minnesota Twins' affiliate won 4-3, in 12 innings. Another lost 4-3 on an unearned run in the 9^th inning. The Twins' top minor league pitcher this season was back on the mound and didn’t disappoint. Chris Colabello and Andrew Albers are two players who came to the Twins organization via the Can-Am League. They both have pretty impressive streaks with the Red Wings right now. So much happened in the Twins farm system on Friday that I haven't even mentioned Miguel Sano hitting another ball a long way!

See what else happened on Friday night in the Twins minor leagues: ...

It wasn't the best week for the Minnesota Twins as the team lost the rubber game of their three game set with the Orioles on Sunday. This was followed by losing two out of three games to the dreaded White Sox. Now Boston's in town for a three game series but don't forget to check out some of the top baseball news from the last week.

• Byron Buxton smashed a walk-off grand slam and his teammates even let him get all the way around the bases! (The Kernels didn't do this on a walk-off a couple weeks ago.)

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Mike Berardino, the excellent new beat writer for the Pioneer Press, linked to a new story on Wednesday with an amusing teaser: "Attention Gibsonites: Kyle Gibson takes a step back at Rochester."

Gibsonites. I like it. And it’s a label I’ll proudly wear because, from my view, it seems obvious that Gibson should be on the major-league roster by now.
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Last week, I took a look at three prep hitters that I hope the Twins seriously consider drafting in next month’s draft. I decided to expand the series and today will take a look at three college arms.

To be considered a “personal cheeseball”, I set out two rules: be a favorite of mine and don’t be too good.

Without further adieu, here are my three college pitchers: ...

By the end of the coming weekend, the Twins will have reached the one-quarter mark of the season with 40+ games under their belts. It’s as good a time as any to reflect upon how some of the decisions made by General Manager Terry Ryan in building the team’s roster have turned out.

As a team, the Twins have been hovering over the .500 mark most of the season and, after Monday night’s win over the White Sox, they are one game over the break-even point. Over the weekend, Ryan told 1500ESPN that .500 wasn’t what he was looking for out of this team, that he wanted them to be contenders. It’s great, of course, for your team’s GM to say that kind of thing, but I think most fans would have been pretty satisfied with the prospects of a .500 year out of this Twins team. ...

In what is thought of as one of the greatest Simpsons episodes of all-time, Nuclear Power Plant owner turned softball manager, C. Montgomery Burns gave one of his ringers, Daryl Strawberry, an invaluable hitting tip.

“You there. Strawberry. Hit a home run,” advised the decrepit hitting instructor. Strawberry took the counsel and smacked a dinger onto the Springfield Expressway. In a perfect world designed by major league hitting coaches, life would be that easy.
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